reading the posts i have some advice.
banks dont talk to MP's, lords or the prime minister.. well not as much as HMRC PRA. so i think you would get more results from HMRC PRA. also get paperwork from HMRC/PRA that categorically says bitcoins are not illegal. dont just go to a bank manager meeting and allow them to say no, ask why. then ask what is required to get approval. show initiative professionalism which of course will show that you want your business to succeed.
as for getting licences to help persuade a bank, one method that may work for you all is to group together and form a co-operative/consortium and have that as the money licence entity. then have your individual businesses/projects as subsidiaries of that main entity.
... well even setting it up as a franchise model could work too....
make it into a bitcoin UK (i wont say foundation although thats the aim) consortium
this would reduce individuals cost of being legal and also show that the projects have a chain of command. rather then looking like a basement dwellers hobby.
i spoke to my bank manager again and he said that they are not oppose to bitcoin, but they are oppose to high risk, and lots of admin.
the easiest way to implement risk reduction would be for you to take peoples driving licence or other government id (passport) at registration. and when doing a transaction ask the customer to take a webcam photo of their face and holding a piece of paper up with their username and a random jumble of characters that represents that transaction request, with the QR code of their receiving bitcoin address. then customers cannot claim they were hacked and someone else done the transaction. and the qr code can be used in relation to the blockchain to prove the transaction occured.
EG: (excuse the babyish 1 minute image production quality)
any dodgy customers that want to hide away, you dont want to be trading with anyway. so the customers that are legitimate would follow the requirements because thats the legal requirements of FIAT.
the other stuff is to also compare the ID details (name) to their bank account details. (there is alot more stuff to do, but this is just some examples)
all of this is also to show proof of authenticity, if (lets say a chargeback scammer) someone tried to reverse a wire transmission. having stuff in your terms and conditions and ensuring the banks that you will validate EVERY customer that way, will reduce their need to investigate transactions as much. and if a investigation does happen, you can quash the customers allegations easily, which banks love (less work for them). the idea above also works for paypal. they have actually refused a chargeback due to some people showing enough proof of a bitcoin transaction. (even i was surprised)
the problem i see many times is that people wanting business accounts, do not want to do KYC. and that is the issue. even if you stick below the EU wire transmission limits to not need a licence. still do KYC.
if you dont want to do KYC then you dont want to handle the bankers patented product (FIAT). remember FIAT is not your property. its just an IOU of something that the banks OWN. you simply have to follow the financial rules if you want to handle their product.
which is why we love bitcoin,.. the day when we can buy groceries and pay our rent without the headache of banking will be the best day ever.
